2024-08-21 02:42:43
Rain of money for Brian Niccol: Starbucks is spending a lot on its new CEO.
Starbucks’ management team is getting a new addition: Brian Niccol, former CEO of Chipotle, will be the new head of the coffee giant. To attract him, Starbucks was extremely generous – not only in terms of financial compensation, but also in terms of his working conditions.
Niccol, who lives in Southern California, will not have to move to Seattle, where Starbucks headquarters are located, as is customary. Instead, he can stay where he lives and commute to Seattle regularly on a company jet. Starbucks is even giving him a small office in Newport Beach, California, which he can use as he pleases. In addition, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Niccol will receive a $10 million signing bonus and millions more in the form of stock packages.
This arrangement shows how much Starbucks wanted Niccol. The ability to use a corporate jet gives Niccol a level of flexibility that is denied to many CEOs – and employees. It not only allows him to make regular visits to headquarters, but also to attend appointments at various locations around the world quickly and efficiently.
In the USA, such “supercommuting” arrangements are rare, but not new. More and more companies are willing to deviate from their previous practices for top managers. This was also evident at Victoria’s Secret, which hired Hillary Super from New York as its new CEO, even though the company’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
Another example is former Boeing CEO David Calhoun, who commuted from two residences by corporate jet during the pandemic. Charlie Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo, and Lidiane Jones, CEO of the dating app Bumble, also have similar arrangements.
However, these developments raise questions – as does Niccol’s background. While top managers like himself enjoy such flexibility, many employees are denied this opportunity. As CEO of Chipotle, he moved the company headquarters from Denver, Colorado, more than 1,000 miles to Southern California, where he lives. A large part of the workforce lost their jobs as a result – now Niccol himself is leaving.
Niccol, the sixth CEO in Starbucks’ history, is considered a key figure in restoring the company’s reputation after food safety issues. He succeeds Laxman Narasimhan, who resigned after just 1.5 years. At Chipotle, Niccol’s compensation for 2023 was $22.5 million.